U.S. flag flutters anew at embassy in Afghan capital

December 18, 2001|By Carol J. Williams, Special to the Tribune. Carol J. Williams is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune newspaper. Tribune news services also contributed.

KABUL, Afghanistan — American Marines hoisted Old Glory outside the U.S. Embassy on Monday, reopening the mission and signaling that Washington and the international community have taken Afghanistan back into their ranks after 13 years.

"We are here, and we are here to stay," the special U.S. envoy on Afghanistan, James Dobbins, declared at a rain-soaked ceremony.

The flag raised Monday over a rubble-strewn courtyard was the same banner that was removed during the 1989 U.S. withdrawal.

The U.S. return bolsters the restoration of diplomatic life begun by Iran, Britain, France, Russia, India and other major and regional powers hoping that the new government to be installed here Saturday will take maximum advantage of Afghanistan's best chance for peace in a quarter of a century.

Although mostly symbolic -- none of the missions is yet providing consular services or even liaison with Afghan leaders -- the influx of reconnaissance teams is sending a positive signal to Afghans exhausted by war and shattered by past disappointments.

Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, also reopened its embassy Monday. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, after an opening ceremony with a new Turkish ambassador, said the post-Taliban regime could help stabilize and bring peace to the region.

Dobbins alluded to the outside world's failure to support Afghanistan when the withdrawal of Soviet occupiers left U.S.-armed local warlords fighting to fill the power vacuum.

`Decade of neglect, abuse'

Content to see the other superpower defeated, the United States and most other Western countries fled the country, which was then descending into lawlessness and bloodletting.

"The Afghan people paid a great price for this decade of neglect and abuse," Dobbins said of the West's having abandoned this country to chaos.

And, in a reference to the dangers of such diplomatic blindness, he conceded that the error exposed the West to the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists.

"On Sept. 11, the United States and the rest of the international community also paid a great price," Dobbins said.

Now wiser to the risks of failing societies in transition, the U.S. will do its utmost to eradicate "the international black holes that become breeding grounds for organized crime and terrorism," Dobbins said.

He was referring to the recently vanquished Taliban regime that gave shelter to Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

The return of the diplomats, albeit at skeletal staffing levels, has intensified as the UN-brokered interim government for Afghanistan nears its inauguration. Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai will become acting prime minister, overseeing a 29-member Cabinet expected to keep the country running until a spring convention of regional leaders to decide the next steps.

A functioning leadership is essential for channeling aid and reconstruction assistance, Dobbins and other diplomats have insisted.

A veteran trouble-shooter with experience in Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, Dobbins said the role of deputy chief of mission will rotate among State Department employees until a permanent appointment is made.

New envoy could take a while

The Bush administration will name an ambassador after diplomatic relations are formally restored between Washington and Kabul; that is expected soon after Saturday's inauguration. But Dobbins said it could take months for the new envoy to show up because of the long confirmation process.

The last U.S. ambassador here, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped by Islamic militants in 1979 and killed during an abortive rescue mission. The embassy worked at a reduced level for a decade before Marines lowered the flag on Jan. 30, 1989.

During a visit to Kabul last week, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, urged all nations with an interest in a peaceful and stable Afghanistan to reactivate their idled diplomatic missions.

"If Afghanistan is to take advantage of this golden opportunity, when the eyes of the world are upon it, that requires the political will and assistance of the international community in supporting the process of peace and stability," he said.

He added that "a large number of countries" have signaled they will have some form of diplomatic representation by Saturday, when the UN will oversee a ceremonial transfer of power from the Northern Alliance guerrillas to the interim authority chosen Dec. 5 in Germany.